Contextual search by a mobile communications device

ABSTRACT

Contextual search by a mobile communications device is described. In an implementation, a search query is a received and a context is detected of a user interface currently being displayed on a display device of a mobile communication device. One or more search results are displayed on a display device of a search performed in the detected context using the search query.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) to U.S.Provisional Patent Applications Nos. 61/107,945, 61/107,935, and61/107,921, each of which was filed on Oct. 23, 2008, the entiredisclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

BACKGROUND

Mobile communication devices (e.g., wireless phones) have become anintegral part of everyday life. For example, a user traditionally used amobile communications device to make telephone calls when the user wasaway from a fixed communications device, e.g., a house or office wiredtelephone. In some instances, the mobile communications device becamethe primary device via which the user communicated with other users asthe user became accustomed to the convenience and functionality of thedevice.

Communication techniques that may be employed using a mobilecommunications device have also increased. For example, users weretraditionally limited to telephone calls between mobile communicationsdevices. Advances were then made to provide a variety of othercommunication techniques, e.g., text messaging and email. However,inclusion of these additional communication techniques on mobilecommunications devices having traditional form factors may cause thesedevices to become unwieldy and less suitable for mobile applications.For example, traditional input devices that were employed by thesecommunication techniques may be less suitable when applied bytraditional mobile communications devices.

SUMMARY

Contextual search by a mobile communications device is described. In animplementation, a search query is received and a context is detected ofa user interface currently being displayed on a display device of amobile communications device. One or more search results are displayedon a display device in a search performed in the detected context usingthe search query.

In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a displaydevice and one or more modules to cause display of one or more resultson the display device of a search performed In a first context based ona search query. If a gesture is detected to switch from the firstcontext to a second context; the modules are configured to cause displayof one or more results of a search performed in the second context basedon the search query.

In an implementation, a mobile communications device includes a displaydevice and one or more modules to display search results on the displaydevice of a first search performed in a first context based on a searchquery. If an input is received via a button of the mobile communicationsdevice that indicates that a scope of the first search is to beexpanded, the modules are configured to perform a second search thatincludes a second context that was not part of the first search, thesecond search being performed without manual reentry of the searchquery.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation of a mobilecommunications device in accordance with one or more embodiments ofdevices, features, and systems for mobile communications.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation in which a gesture isutilized to switch a context used to perform a search by the mobilecommunications device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of a gesture received toscroll (e.g., pan up or down) through the user interface of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of the mobilecommunications device of FIG. 1 as outputting search results in responseto a search query.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example implementation of loading search resultsby the mobile communications device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 Illustrates an example implementation of a location contextsearch of the user interface of die mobile communications device of FIG.1.

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an exampleimplementation in which a current context of a user interface is used toscope a search.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an exampleimplementation in which a switch is performed between first and secondcontexts of a search using a gesture.

FIG. 9 is a flow diagram depicting a procedure in an exampleimplementation, in which a search is scoped out to include an additionalcontext,

FIG. 10 illustrates various components of an example device that can heimplemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobile device toimplement embodiments of devices, features,, and systems for mobilecommunication

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Functionality is continually added to mobile communications devices(e.g., mobile phones), such as to consume music, store contacts,communicate via messages (e.g., SMS, MMS, email), consume streamedcontent (e.g., music and videos), and so on. Because of this, it isbecoming progressively harder for users to find desired content storedon the mobile communications device. Additionally, because mobilecommunications devices are typically connected to a network, a user maydesire content that is not stored locally on the mobile communicationsdevice but rather is accessible via the network.

Techniques are described to provide contextual search on a mobilecommunications device. These techniques may be implemented in a varietyof ways to provide a variety of features. For example, a physical searchbutton may be included with a keyboard of the mobile communicationsdevice to invoke a search. In this way, the search may be invokedthroughout a user interface of the mobile communications device (e.g.,by different applications throngs an API) without consuming display areaof the mobile communications device by display of a search input areawhen the search is not desired.

Contextual filtering of search results may also be performed based oncontext of a current output of a user interface by the mobilecommunications device. For example, a search may be performed for musicwhen a music application is currently output in the user interface bythe mobile communications device. Thus, in this example the musicapplication provides the context to the search.

In an implementation, a context may be switched without reentering thesearch criteria, e.g., by performing a panning gesture, pressing abutton of the mobile communications device, and so on. For example, apan gesture may be defected via a display device to mimic switching froma phone context accessible via a particular column in a user interfaceto a web context accessible via an adjacent column in the userinterface. Additionally, a search may be “scoped out” of a particularcontext, e.g., may increase a scope of the search from music, to anentirety of a mobile communications device, and even beyond the boundsof the mobile communications device to the Internet. Further discussionof contextual search may be found in relation to the following sections.

In the following discussion, a variety of example implementations of amobile communications device (e.g., a wireless phone) are described.Additionally, a variety of different functionality that may he employedby the mobile communications device is described for each example, whichmay be implemented in that example as well as in other describedexamples. Accordingly, example implementations are illustrated of a fewof a variety of contemplated implementations. Further, although a mobilecommunications device having one or more modules that are configured toprovide telephonic functionality are described, a variety of othermobile devices are also contemplated, such as persona) digitalassistants, mobile music players, dedicated messaging devices, portablegame devices, netbooks, and so on.

Example Implementations

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation 100 of a mobilecommunications device 102 in accordance with one or more embodiments ofdevices, features, and systems for mobile communications. The mobilecommunications device 102 is operable to assume a plurality ofconfigurations, examples of which include a configuration in which themobile communications device 102 is “closed” and a configurationillustrated in FIG. 1 in which the mobile communications device 102 is“open.”

The mobile communications device 102 is further illustrated as includinga first housing 104 and a second housing 106 that are connected via aslide 108 such that the first and second housings 104, 106 may move(e.g., slide) in relation to one another. Although sliding is described,it should be readily apparent that a variety of other movementtechniques are also contemplated, e.g., a pivot, a hinge and so on.

The first housing 104 includes a display device 110 that may be used tooutput a variety of data, such as a caller identification (ID),information related to text messages as illustrated, email, multimediamessages, Internet browsing, game play, music, video and so on. In theillustrated implementation, the display device 110 is also configured tofunction as an input device by incorporating touchscreen functionality,e.g., through capacitive, surface acoustic wave, resistive, optical,strain gauge, dispersive signals, acoustic pulse, and other touchscreenfunctionality.

The second housing 106 is illustrated as including a keyboard 112 thatmay be used to provide inputs to the mobile communications device 102.Although the keyboard 112 is illustrated as a QWERTY keyboard, a varietyof other examples are also contemplated, such as a keyboard that followsa traditional telephone keypad layout (e.g., a twelve key numeric padfound on basic telephones), keyboards configured for other languages(e.g., Cyrillic), and so on.

In the example shown in FIG. 1, the first and second housings 104, 106of the mobile communications device 102 are approximately squared. Forexample, a plane defined by an outer surface of the display device 114may be parallel to a plane of the first housing 104 that approximates asquare, which may be the same as or different from the plane defined bythe display device 110. In other words, the width and height of theplane taken from the first housing 104 that is parallel to the othersurface of the display device 110 is approximately one-to-one. Likewise,the second housing 106 may be considered square along a plane that isparallel to and/or is the same as an outer surface of the keyboard 112disposed within the second housing 106.

The mobile communications device 102 may assume a “closed configuration”such that the first housing 104 covers the second housing 106 by slidingthe housing together using the slide 108. Consequently, the keyboard 112disposed on the second housing 106 may be covered and made not availableto for interaction by a user of the mobile communications device 102. Inan implementation, telephonic functionality is still available when themobile communications device 102 is in the closed configuration, e.g.,to receive a telephone call.

In the “open” configuration as illustrated in the example implementation100 of FIG. 1, the first housing 104 is moved (e.g., slid) “away” fromthe second housing 106 using the slide 108. In this exampleconfiguration, at least a majority of the keys of the keyboard 112(i.e., the physical keys) is exposed such that the exposed keys areavailable for use to provide inputs. The open configuration results inan extended form factor of the mobile communications device 102 ascontrasted with the form factor of the mobile communications device 102in the closed configuration. In an implementation, the planes of thefirst and second housings 104, 106 that are used to define the extendedform factor are parallel to each other, although other implementationsare also contemplated, such as a “clamshell” configuration, “brick”configuration, and so on.

The form factor employed by the mobile communications device 102 may besuitable to support a wide variety of features. For example, thekeyboard 112 is illustrated as supporting a QWERTY configuration. Thisform factor may be particularly convenient to a user to utilize thepreviously described functionality of the mobile communications device102, such as to compose texts, play games, check email, “surf” theInternet, provide status messages for a social network, and so on.

In the mobile communications device 102 of FIG. 1, a portion of the keysof the keyboard 112 are illustrated as sharing multiple functions. Forexample, a numeric keypad may be provided within physical keys of theQWERTY layout as illustrated by the physical keys “w”, “e”, “r”, “s”,“d”, “f”, “z”, “x”, “c”, and “.” as sharing numbers “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”,“5”, “6”, “7”, “8”, “9”, and “0”, respectively. The numbers may beaccessed by pressing the “ALT” key of the keypad 112. A variety of otherexamples are also contemplated, an example of which may be found inrelation to tire following figure.

The mobile communications device 102 is also illustrated as including acommunication module 114. The communication module 114 is representativeof functionality of the mobile communications device 102 to communicatevia a network 116. For example, the communication module 114 may includetelephone functionality to make and receive telephone calls. Thecommunication module 114 may also include a variety of otherfunctionality, such as to form short message service (SMS) textmessages, multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages, emails, statusmessages for a social network, and so on. A user, for instance, may forma status message for communication via the network 116 to a socialnetwork website. The social network website may then publish the statusmessage to “friends” of the user, e.g., for receipt by the friends via acomputer, respective mobile communications device, and so on. A varietyof other examples are also contemplated, such as blogging, instantmessaging, and so on.

The mobile communications device 102 is also illustrated as including asearch module 118. The search module 118 is representative offunctionality of the mobile communication device 102 to perform a searchand generate a user interlace 120. The user interface 120 is illustratedas including a search query input area 122 that is configured to receivea search query.

There are a variety of different ways of initiating a search. Forexample, an input may be received from the keyboard 112 which causesoutput of the user interface 120 and input of corresponding letters as asearch query in the search query input area 122. In another example, adedicated physical search button 124 of the keyboard 112 may be pressedto cause output of the user interface 120. A variety of other examplesare also contemplated, such as by selecting a representation in a menudisplayed on the display device 110 or upon receipt of an input in thesearch query input area 122 from the keyboard 122 (e.g., when a userstarts typing without selecting a specific portion of the user interface120.

Depending on where the search was initiated, the search module 118 mayconfigure the user interface 120 in a variety of ways. As illustrated inFIG. 1, for instance, the user interface 120 may be output without beingscoped to a particular context. In this example, the user interface 120includes a plurality of portions that are selectable to specify aparticular context, illustrated instances include representations of theweb 126, a phone 128, and location 130. In another example, the userinterface 120 may be scoped to a particular context automatically andwithout user intervention based on a current context of an output by themobile communications device 102, further discussion of which may befound in relation to FIG. 7.

In an implementation, if a user starts typing on the keyboard 112without selecting a context, the phone 128 context is selected bydefault. This may be represented by an animation that gives anappearance of zooming-in to the phone 128 context icon displayed in theuser interface 120.

In another implementation, a user may manually select a context. Forexample, a user may manually select the representation of the web 126 tocause a web search to be performed. In response to the selection (e.g.,by pressing the display device 110 using touchscreen functionality), ananimation may be output to animate into that context. As the user entersthe search query using the keyboard 112 or other input device, thesearch module 118 performs the search in the selected context. In animplementation, auto-complete functionality may be used to increaseefficiency in entering the search query. A user may also switch contexts(e.g., by panning) used to perform the search after the search query isentered, further discussion of which may be found in relation to thefollowing figure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation in which a gesture isutilized to switch contexts used to perform a search by the mobilecommunications device 102 of FIG. 1. The mobile communications device102 is illustrated as outputting the user interface 120 on the displaydevice 110. The user interface 120 has three contexts in the illustratedexample arranged in columns. A phone context 202 is illustrated ascurrently being output on the display device 110. A web context 204 anda location context 206 are illustrated as not currently output on thedisplay device 110 (and accordingly are illustrated in phantom) and arearranged in columns to the left and right of the phone context 202,respectively, to indicate “where” the contexts are located in respect tothe phone context 202.

The phone context 202 includes the search query input portion 122 havinga search query “529”. Search results that include telephone number fromcontacts stored in the mobile communication device 102 are displayed ina column of the phone context 202 below the search query input portico122. In an implementation, the search results are selectable to initiatea communication (e.g., telephone call) using the contact information.Further, additional content may be searched from the phone 128 contextsuch as applications, data, and so on.

In an implementation, the user may change the context in a variety ofways. For example, a user may navigate between the columns of the userinterface 120 using one or more physical buttons of the keyboard 112 ofFIG. 1. In another example illustrated in FIG. 2, a gesture may beperformed to pan between the columns. For example, a finger of a user'shand 208 may be placed on the display device 110 to “drag” the userinterface 120 in the desired direction to switch from the phone context202 to the web context 204 or the location context 206. In animplementation, the search query is automatically reused to perform asearch in the respective context. In this way, a user may perform thesearch in different contexts without manually reentering the searchquery in the search query input portion 122. A variety of other examples(e.g., gestures) are also contemplated to switch contexts.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, the search query input area 122 includes asearch button 210 that is selectable to initiate a search when in theweb 204 and location 210 contexts, but not the phone 202 context. Whenin the phone 202 context, a dial button 212 is included in the searchquery input area 122 that is selectable to initiate a telephone callaging numbers and/or letters input in the search query input area 122.

The telephone number may be displayed in the search query input area 122according to the following logic. If the query starts with a number or aplus sign the dial button 212 is displayed. The telephone number maythen disappear when the user enters a small-cap letter that does notcorrespond to a number. For example, when the user enters a “q” the userinterface may display contacts that include a “q.” The telephone numbermay also disappear when the user has entered more than the maximumnumber of digits for a locale before initiating dialing.

In an implementation, if the user has entered a capitalized letter theletter is translated to a number according to the 12-key digit-lettertelephone keypad layout unless it violates one or more of the conditionsabove. The conditions may be validated each time there is a change inthe query string such the telephone number field may appear/disappear asthe query changes. The telephone number may be automatically formattedto include a plus sign, dashes and parentheses as appropriate by thecommunication module 114.

If the context was automatically selected for the user (e.g., bymanually selecting the phone 128 context of FIG. 1), deleting each ofthe inputs in the search query input area 122 may cause the userinterface 120 to “zoom out” of the selected context. Additionally,pressing the back button 132 may cause text entered into the searchquery input area 122 to be erased upon exit of the default context backto a main search screen as illustrated in FIG. 1. In another example,the back button 132 may cause the search to “scope out,” furtherdiscussion of which may be found in relation to FIG. 9. In animplementation, an input is retained upon exit of a search application(e.g., search module 118) such that the input remains upon re-initiationof the search application until a new input is provided.

The search query input area 122 may also be configured by the mobilecommunications device 102 for efficient use of an available amount ofdisplay area of the display device 110, an example 300 of such animplementation is illustrated in FIG. 3. The example 300 shows first andsecond instances 302, 304 of the mobile communications device 102.

In the first instance 302, the search query input area 122 is displayedat a first size (e.g., “full” size) to increase legibility of the searchquery as the search query is entered. In the second instance 304,however, the search query input area 122 is reduced (e.g., shrunk bythirty percent) in response to an input received from the user 208 toscroll through the search results. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3a gesture may be received to scroll (e.g., pan up or down) through theuser interface 120. The search query input area 122 may return to theoriginal size as illustrated in the first instance 302 when selected bya user. Thus, a user may scroll through search results vertically asshown in FIG. 3 and switch contexts horizontally as shown in FIG. 2,although it should be readily apparent that a variety of otherimplementations are also contemplated.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example implementation of the mobilecommunications device 102 of FIG. 1 as outputting search results inresponse to a search query. The riser interface 120 is illustrated asorganizing search results into a plurality of sub-categories, examplesof which are illustrated as “contacts,” “messages,” and “calendar” whichmay or may not correspond to different contexts of a search. In animplementation, each category may have a respective progress indicatorto indicate a status of a search within that category, such as by acolor change through the text representation of the respectivecategories that mimics a status bar.

As the search query is being entered in the search query input area 122,the categories may be displayed next to each other. The search resultsmay then be displayed in each respective category as found in real time.A variety of different categories may be supported, examples of whichare listed below in a hierarchical arrangement that may be accessedthrough selecting a “more” button as illustrated for each category.

Web

-   -   Instant answer        -   Weather        -   Stock        -   Movie times        -   Encyclopedia entry    -   Web pages    -   Image    -   News

Phone

-   -   Contacts    -   Call history    -   Messages    -   Favorites    -   Media (Music/Video)    -   Calendar

Location

-   -   Businesses        In an implementation, the “More” button appears when there are        more results than what fits into the first-level results page.        When a search is completed, categories that do not contain        search results may be removed from the user interface 120. If        there are no results in each of the categories, a “No Results”        message may be displayed in the user interface 120. Selection        (e.g., “tapping”) of a search result may cause the search result        to be opened, e.g., to open an appointment on the calendar,        display a body of a selected message, and so on. In an        implementation, a user may interact with the user interface 120        to specify which of the contexts will appear in the user        interface. For example, the user may interact with a series of        checkboxes to select one or more of the above contexts.

The search module 118 may also support bookmark functionality for searchresults. For example, a favorites icon 402 (illustrated as a star in theuser interface) may be displayed in the user interface 120 once one ormore search results are found and displayed in the user interface 120.Selection of the favorites icon 402 may cause the search module 118 toadd the search query to a home screen of the user interface 120 of themobile communications device 102. Selection of the search query in thehome-screen may then be used to perform the search again and/or displaya previous search result. In an implementation, if the search wasperformed in a specific context the search is repeated in that context,e.g., one of the columns of FIG. 2.

To view additional search results, a user may perform a gesture to “pandown” through the search results, select a scroll icon 404 (e.g., toscroll down a single page of search results) that is illustrated in abottom-right corner of the user interface 120, and so on. If there areno additional search results, the scroll icon 404 is not displayed.

In an implementation, a user can scroll through a list of searchresults. When in a particular context (whether manually or automaticallyselected), the user may scroll past the “end” of the search results forthat context. Scrolling past the end of the context may cause a searchto be initiated for at least one other context, e.g., for each localcontext supported by the mobile communications device 102, for local andremote contexts, and so on. If additional results are not available, thescroll icon 404 may be removed from the user interface 120. In anotherimplementation, the “end” of the search results is indicated by croppingthe search results at the bottom of the user interface 120 if there areadditional items to imply that the additional items are available to beviewed. If not, the search results at the end are displayed in full,i.e., an icon representing each search result is displayed in itsentirety. The search results may also be configured to indicate a numberof that search results are loading, further discussion of which may foefound in relation to the following figure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example implementation 500 of loading searchresults by the mobile communications device 102 of FIG. 1. In thisexample, the context of the search relates to images. Consequently,images are displayed in the user interface 120 as the search result isentered.

As the search results (e.g., images) are located, for instance,representations of the images are displayed in the user interface,examples of which include a dog and a bolt of electricity. Outlines ofother images are displayed to indicate a number of search results found.These outlines may then be “filled in” as the images are loaded into theuser interface 120. A variety of other techniques are also contemplatedto indicate a number of search results as found and loading of thesearch results.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example implementation of a location contextsearch of the user interface 120 of the mobile communications device 102of FIG. 1. The user interface 120 is shown as outputting a locationcontext. As illustrated, the user interface 120 includes a search queryinput area 122 like the location context 206 of FIG. 2.

However, in this example a location portion 602 is also included forentering a location that is to be used as a basis for performing asearch. For instance, a user may use the keyboard 112 to enter alocation that is to be used as a basis for a search query entered in thesearch query input area 122. A user may also select a location icon 604to use a current geographical location of the mobile communicationsdevice 102. Selection of the location icon 604 may case the locationportion 602 to be automatically populated with the current geographicallocation, which may be determined through GPS, triangulation usingwireless transmitters, and so on. Selection of a search result (e.g.,tapping), may cause the user interface to output a view of the result ona map, e.g., in a web browser.

Generally, any of the functions described herein can be implementedusing software, firmware, hardware (e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manualprocessing, or a combination of these implementations. The terms“module,” “functionality,” and “logic” as used herein generallyrepresent software, firmware, hardware or a combination of software andfirmware. In the case of a software implementation, the module,functionality, or logic represents instructions (e.g., program code)that perform specified tasks when executed on a computing system formedby one or more computers having one or more processors (e.g., CPU orCPUs). The instructions may be stored in one or more tangible computerreadable memory devices. The features of the contextual searchtechniques described below are platform-independent, meaning that thetechniques may be implemented on a variety of commercial computingplatforms having a variety of processors.

Example Procedures

The following discussion describes contextual search techniques that maybe implemented utilizing the previously described systems and devices.Aspects of each of the procedures may be implemented in hardware,firmware, or software, or a combination thereof. The procedures areshown as a set of blocks that specify operations performed by one ormore devices and are not necessarily limited to the orders shown forperforming the operations by the respective blocks. In portions of thefollowing discussion, reference will be made to the environment 100 ofFIG. 1 and the implementations 200-600 of FIGS. 2-6, respectively.

FIG. 7 depicts a procedure 700 in an example implementation in which acurrent context of a user interface is used to scope a search. A searchquery is received (block 702), such as through the keyboard 110 anddisplayed in the search query input area 122 of the user interface 120.

A context is detected of a user interface currently being displayed on adisplay device of a mobile communication device (block 704). Forexample, the display device 102 may be used to output the user interface120 in a variety of different configurations for a variety of differentapplications, such as a music player application, contacts application,telephone application, web browser, location application, and so on.Accordingly, each of these different applications may provide adifferent context for the user interface 120, such as to displaydifferent types of content. Types of content may vary greatly, such asmusic, video, documents, contacts, and so on and may be detected in avariety of ways, such as based on an extension that identifies the type.Therefore, the search module 118 may leverage the current context toincrease a likelihood of finding a relevant search result.

One or more search results are displayed on the display device of asearch performed in the detected context using the search query (block706). As shown in FIG. 2, for instance, search results may be displayedin a phone 202 context as a column. Contexts may also be switched by auser to perform additional searches, such as to switch from a firstcontext to a second context as described in relation to FIG. 8 and/or“scope out” a search as described in relation to FIG. 9.

FIG. 8 depicts a procedure 800 in an example implementation in which aswitch is performed between first and second contexts of a search usinga gesture. One or more results are displayed on a display device of asearch performed in a first context based on a search query (block 802).For example, the first context may be a phone 202 context based on atelephone application is that currently configuring the user interface120. Accordingly, a search performed in this context may result insearch results that include telephone numbers as illustrated in FIG. 2.

If a gesture is detected to switch from, the first context to a secondcontext, cause display of one or more results of a search performed inthe second context based on the search query (block 804). Additionally,the search may be performed based on the search query in response to thedetection of the gesture without manually reentering the search query(block 806). Continuing with the previous example, a user may wish toswitch from the phone 202 context to the location 206 context.Therefore, a finger of the users hand 208 may make a panning gestureacross the display device 110. Touchscreen functionality of the displaydevice 110 may be used to detect the gesture and therefore recognizethat a switch is to be performed.

In response to this detection, the search module 118 may use the searchquery from the first search and perform another search in the relevantcontext, such as location 206 in this example. Although performance offirst and second searches has been described, a variety of otherexamples are also contemplated. For example, the first and secondsearches in the respective first and second contexts may be performedconcurrently (e.g., is a single search). Results of this search may thenbe separated based on context such that the user may navigate betweenthe contexts to see different search results. Thus, the contexts may besearched in a variety of ways without manually reentering the searchquery.

FIG. 9 depicts a procedure 900 in an example implementation in which asearch is scoped out to include an additional context. Search resultsare displayed of a first search performed in a first context based on asearch query (block 902). If an input is received via a button of themobile communications device that indicates that a scope of the firstsearch is to be expanded, a second search is performed. The secondsearch is performed in a second context that was not part of the firstsearch without manual reentry of the search query (block 904).

For example, a dedicated search key 132 of a keyboard 112 of the mobilecommunications device 102 may be pressed to load the search query inputarea 122. When the search key 132 was pressed, the mobile communicationsdevice 102 may be in a phone 128 context and accordingly a search isperformed in that context. However, a user may have mistakenly enteredthe search query while in the phone 128 context and desire anothercontext, such as music. Accordingly, the user may press the back 132button to scope out to search the mobile communications device 102 as awhole and not just phone numbers. Pressing the back 132 button again maycause the search to be expanded past local storage of the mobilecommunications device 102 to include content available remotely over thenetwork 116. A variety of other examples are also contemplated.

Example Device

FIG. 10 illustrates various components of an example device 1000 thatcan be implemented in various embodiments as any type of a mobile deviceto implement embodiments of devices, features, and systems for mobilecommunications. For example, device 1000 can be implemented as any ofthe mobile communications devices 102 described with reference torespective FIGS. 1-6. Device 1000 can also be implemented to access anetwork-based service, such as a content service.

Device 1000 includes input(s) 1002 that may include Internet Protocol(IP) inputs as well as other input devices, such as the keyboard 112 ofFIGS. 1-60. Device 1000 further includes communication interface(s) 1004that can be implemented as any one or more of a wireless interface, anytype of network interface, and as any other type of communicationinterface. A network interface provides a connection between device 1000and a communication network by which other electronic and computingdevices can communicate data with device 1000. A wireless interfaceenables device 1000 to operate as a mobile device for wirelesscommunications.

Device 1000 also includes one or more processors 1006 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like) which process variouscomputer-executable instructions to control the operation of device 1000and to communicate with other electronic devices. Device 1000 can beimplemented with computer-readable media 1008, such as one or morememory components, examples of which include random access memory (RAM)and non-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory(ROM), flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.).

Computer-readable media 1008 provides data storage to store content anddata 1010, as well as device applications and airy other types ofinformation and/or data related to operational aspects of device 1000.For example, an operating system 1012 can be maintained as a computerapplication with the computer-readable media 1008 and executed onprocessor(s) 1006. Device applications can also include a communicationmanager module 1014 (which may be used to provide telephonicfunctionality) and a media manager 1016.

Device 1000 also includes an audio and/or video output 1018 thatprovides audio and/or video data to an audio rendering and/or displaysystem 1020. The audio rendering and/or display system 1020 can beimplemented as integrated component(s) of the example device 1000, andcan include any components that process, display, and/or otherwiserender audio, video, and image data. Device 1000 can also be implementedto provide a user tactile feedback, such as vibrate and haptics.

The communication manager module 1014 is further illustrated asincluding a keyboard module 1022. The keyboard module 1022 isrepresentative of functionality employ one or more of the techniquespreviously described in relation to FIGS. 1-6.

Generally, the blocks may be representative of modules that areconfigured to provide represented functionality. Further, any of thefunctions described herein can be implemented using software, firmware(e.g., fixed logic circuitry), manual processing, or a combination ofthese implementations. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and “logic”as used herein generally represent software, firmware, or a combinationof software and firmware. In the case of a software implementation, themodule, functionality, or logic represents program code that performsspecified tasks when executed on a processor (e.g., CPU or CPUs). Theprogram code can be stored in one or more computer readable memorydevices. The features of the techniques described above areplatform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented ona variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety ofprocessors.

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A method comprising: generating for display searchresults of a first search based on a search query performed in a firstcontext that involves a first application; and in response to receivinga swipe on a display, performing a second search in a second contextthat involves a second application which was not part of the firstsearch, the second search being performed without manual reentry of thesearch query.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first search isfor content that is local to a mobile communications device and thesecond search is for content that accessible to the mobilecommunications device via a network connection.
 23. The method of claim21, wherein the swipe causes the second search to expand past a localstorage to include content available remotely over a network.
 24. Themethod of claim 21, wherein at least one of the first and the secondsearches involves at least a portion of a telephone number.
 25. Themethod of claim 21, wherein the first context is user selectable throughinteraction with a user interface.
 26. The method of claim 21, whereingenerating for display the search results of the first search comprisesgenerating for display the search results of the first search in aplurality of categories.
 27. The method of claim 21, further comprisingperforming a third search in a third context that is different than thefirst context and the second context in response to scrolling past theend of the search results of the first search.
 28. The method of claim21, wherein the first context and the second context each correspond toa respective application.
 29. The method of claim 21, further comprisingassociating content with the first context based on an extension type.30. The method of claim 21, further comprising generating for displaysearch results of the second search on the display.
 31. A systemcomprising: hardware circuitry configured to: generate for displaysearch results of a first search based on a search query performed in afirst context that involves a first application; and in response toreceiving a swipe on a display, perform a second search in a secondcontext that involves a second application which was not part of thefirst search, the second search being performed without manual reentryof the search query.
 32. The system of claim 31, wherein the firstsearch is for content that is local to a mobile communications deviceand the second search is for content that accessible to the mobilecommunications device via a network connection.
 33. The system of claim31, wherein the swipe causes the second search to expand past a localstorage to include content available remotely over a network.
 34. Thesystem of claim 31, wherein at least one of the first and the secondsearches involves at least a portion of a telephone number.
 35. Thesystem of claim 31, wherein the first context is user selectable throughinteraction with a user interface.
 36. The system of claim 31, whereinthe hardware circuitry is configured to generate for display the searchresults of the first search by generating for display the search resultsof the first search in a plurality of categories.
 37. The system ofclaim 31, wherein the hardware circuitry is further configured toperform a third search in a third context that is different than thefirst context and the second context in response to receiving a userinput to scroll past the end of the search results of the first search.38. The system of claim 31, wherein the first context and the secondcontext each correspond to a respective application.
 39. The system ofclaim 31, wherein the hardware circuitry is further configured toassociate content with the first context based on an extension type. 40.The system of claim 31, wherein the hardware circuitry is furtherconfigured to generate for display search results of the second searchon the display.